Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Small Business - Under Attack

Seventy percent of Americans work for small businesses, many times companies with less than 100 employees. That is the case because there are only about 3,000 companies in the US with 3,000 employees or more. As such, about 108 million people work for small businesses. Approximately, 46 million people work for large companies. Small business therefore is the bedrock of America. If small businesses are not flourishing, it is impossible to have a growing, consumer driven economy. Years ago, there was a saying that "What was good for General Motors was good for America". We all know the end of that story. The reality is that what is good for small business is increasingly good for America. The Obama Administration claimed this week that the economic recovery is under way as a result of their SwindleUS Package. This pronouncement is laughable. Just ask any small business owner if the economic recovery is happening and you will be told HELL NO. Cards talk, number don't lie; but self serving politicians do lie.

Here are the facts. Unemployment is approaching 10%, the highest in 26 years, and will go higher because the SwindleUS Package has done nothing to improve the economy and in fact has made matters worse because of a misapplication of resources. The actual unemployment rate is around 16% because those who have stopped looking for work are not included in the 10%. There are now about 15 million people out of work; but again that does not include those that have just given up looking for work. Two million jobs have been lost since President Obama was elected President in anticipation of his Socialist schemes. Mr. Obama promised us that if the SwindleUS package was enacted into law resulting in $780 billion in deficit spending that unemployment would cap out at 8%. Obviously, Obama was very wrong. Don't believe the phony numbers coming out of the Obama Administration about saving a million jobs that would otherwise have been lost if not for their actions. That is just plain baloney.

Small business is in a severe Depression not a Recession because many small businesses are dependent on credit that is not available to fund their businesses. And, business in general is way down anyway. The Obama Administration spent billions if not trillions bailing out banks, insurance companies, GM and Chrysler. While it was important to stabilize the banking system, which actually began during the Bush Administration, wasting money on GM and Chrysler, that filed for bankruptcy anyway, was nothing more than a pay off by Obama to big unions that elected him at the expense of taxpayers and investors in GM and Chrysler. These particular auto companies and their unions are dinosaurs. Chrysler, as the weakest player, should have been allowed to go out of business because there is too much capacity in the auto industry. GM should have just gone into bankruptcy sooner to allow for restructuring that should have happened years ago. Keep in mind that GM once had 400 thousand employees, the majority of which were in the United States. Today, GM has 60,000 employees in the United States. This down sizing has been happening for years because GM has continued to lose market share to foreign car companies because they make a better product. Government and Obama's intrusion with his Car CommiCZAR cannot and will not change the facts on the ground. It is what it is.

In the mean time Small Business, the bedrock of America is under attack as a result of all of Obama's Socialist schemes. Cap and Tax, which will greatly benefit GE and other big companies, will be devastating to small businesses forced to pay higher energy costs. Obama'sHealthScare Program, which mandates health insurance and higher cost for small businesses will hit the bottom line hard. Raising federal income taxes on the "rich" to pay for HealthScare by 5%, as proposed in the US House Bill, will hit small business owners hardest since most of them are S Corporations and they pay income taxes at personal rather than corporate rates. And, finally the President and the Democrat Socialists in Congress want to pass Card Check which will make it easier for unions to intimidate employees into signing up to be in a union. All of these things will be devastating to small businesses. The end result will be significant loss of jobs at a time when we need job creation in the US and/or closing the doors entirely.

As someone who has worked for large companies and founded a small business that started with 13 employees, I know what it takes to grow a business and make payroll. Obviously, President Obama has never managed any private or public enterprise so he is clueless about business. Further, Obama sees capitalism and a market driven economy as the problem not the solution. As long as the President thinks and acts like a Socialist, we will never see substantial growth in America. As such, one of the reasons I founded the National Freedom Forum is because I see President Obama and all his Socialist schemes as a clear and present danger to the people of the United States, our freedoms and small business, the bedrock of our country. Small business is under attack.Until we see job growth again, there will be no real economic recovery. President Obama's policies are the same ideas implemented by President Roosevelt during the Great Depression. And, contrary to popular, left wing liberal ideology, Roosevelt's New Deal did nothing to end the Depression. Unemployment throughout the 30's was at 12% or higher. It was World War II that ended the Depression as the country geared up for war time production and several million men and women went off to war.

Until President Obama gains an understanding of Economics 101, which will happen when pigs fly, and the importance of Small Business in the US, we will not see any meaningful economic recovery. Many small businesses will go out of business if Obama's Socialist schemes are enacted. We have to help the President see the light or feel the heat. It is a serious mistake to punish the risk takers in our society, small business owners, that have risked it all to achieve the American dream. In taking from the 50% that pay income taxes and giving to the less productive 50% that pay no taxes at all, the President is just insuring that all will be poor which is Obama's goal. And, the last time I checked, no one ever got a job from someone that is poor.